they don't mean a **** thing it's just words, decisions made outside of my head which, interestingly enough, is where the problem is rooted these "risk factors" i supposedly show what do they really, honestly signify? that i'm mental, incompetent, a danger to myself? words that a man in his fifties can scribble onto a piece of paper and hand off to another man in his fifties and it means the same thing across the board because they apparently know what i'm thinking how i'm feeling they can see by the fact that i can't get out of bed most days that i'm depressed they know that because i hyperventilate over due dates and social situations that i have generalized anxiety disorder they conjecture that because i don't hesitate before crossing the main street on campus i'm at a very high risk for suicide i suppose none of these are far-off guesses but my brain is not a textbook and my thoughts are not teaching material i am not a simple headcase! i will not be simplified and generalized into the little boxes you've charted out "here's where the depressed kids go" "bipolar disorder falls here" "eating disorders go in this corner to the left" "watch the ones who want to **** themselves closely" "it'll probably be a big show" my thoughts, feelings, actions are not so easily categorized yes, i've taken psychology i know that freud claimed we're all acting on pent-up ****** rage i know that skinner put rats in a box and thus proved behaviorism i know that all of these men, they wrote papers and did experiments on how it's all inside our unconsciousness my unconscious i am not so easily uncovered i refuse to put myself in a tiny box and let someone else dictate what is going on in my head just so he can receive a paycheck i won't let someone pump xanax and prozac into me like it's nothing i want to know that i'm not just going through a rough patch i want to be certain that something is broken before i start fixing it **** me or repair me all i know is i won't go down without a fight